Star Trek:Odyssey 10:Forever's Edge
by rylansato
Summary: Jermaine Allensworth, no longer a Starfleet Captain, lives in San Francisco constantly drunk. The Federation is still at war with the Terran Empire and with the help of a former shipmate, he must travel back in time to save his former comrades.
1. No Longer A Captain

Star Trek: Odyssey: Forever's Edge

The bar was crowded but that was typical on a Friday night. It was filled with different species from different worlds. There was a large number of Starfleet cadets in bar tonight. One person stood out from the rest even though he was a civilian. He lifted up hid glass and downed its contents and slammed it to the bar with a thud. The bartender came over and poured him another glass of Romulan Ale. Romulan Ale was an illegal drink in the federation but this particular bartender kept some. He probably had dealings with Quark in order to get it.

Romulan Ale is generally blue in color and its Romulan name is Kali-fal. Depending on its vintage will depend on its color of blue. Darker the color, the older it is. This was the fifteenth glass of it that this particular person has had since he sat at the bar a few hours ago. This person was Jermaine Allensworth.

Jermaine Allensworth came in everyday for the past ten years since he resigned his commission as a Starfleet captain. Allensworth quickly downed this drink and drunkenly stood up. He slightly stumbled away from the bar. The bartender took the glass and set it out of sight as he wiped the area that Allensworth previously occupied. He thought about saying something along the lines of "See you tomorrow." Or something like but he figured that Allensworth was too drunk to hear him. He watched as the former captain stumbled out the door.

Jermaine walked outside and felt the salty air of San Francisco hit his face. It had just rained in the city and ground was really too wet to sit down and wait to sober up. He decided it was better just to walk or stumble home. Which ever he could do better and more than likely he'd stumble home.

He started down the street and saw different people as he walked by. He didn't recognize a single person. It was either because he had never seen them before or it was because he was too drunk to see straight. He held onto a wall as he walked and when that wall ended, he just stumbled down the alleyway towards his home.

He was about halfway down the alleyway when he took out a flask from his jacket. It probably contained more Romulan Ale or Klingon Blood Wine. Either way it was alcohol and he needed to drown himself in it. He took one drink of it and stumbled more. He started to fall forward but he caught himself on the wall. His insides couldn't take this new intake of alcohol and decided to get rid of it.

He leaned against the wall and puked all over the ground. He puked nothing but a purple-ish liquid. The combination color of the blue Romulan Ale and the red Klingon Blood Wine. Looks like Romulans and Klingons wouldn't even combine at this level either.

Once he was done puking he stumbled further down the alleyway. He only made it a few more feet before falling face first into the pavement. At this point it didn't matter how wet the ground was. He was down and probably wasn't getting up anytime soon.

The sounds of footsteps approached Allensworth's fallen body. The footsteps are rather light, suggesting the person was in fit condition. The person approached and stood over Allensworth. The person had a slender figure and wore a Starfleet uniform. The person was female and had the command red turtleneck underneath her black and grey shouldered uniform. She also wore four pips on her collar telling all who saw that she was a captain.

She had blonde hair that was not completely blonde but had hints of brown and a green strip that hung down the side of her face. She picked up the bottle and tossed it aside. She then grabbed a hold of Allensworth and hoisted him up to where his right arm was draped over her shoulder. She used her right hand to tap her comm. badge.

"Stull to Alexandria, two to beam up."

Jermaine Allensworth woke up in a place unfamiliar to him. To be more precise, he hadn't seen this place in ten years. He leaned up to be greeted by a really severe splitting headache. He held his hand against his head in hopes of helping it go away.

"So you're awake." A voice said.

He looked up to see Captain Michelle Stull come into the room. The Trill had just become captain a few months ago after the previous captain of this ship was killed and as first officer she took over and was ultimately awarded with her own command of this ship. She handed him a drink that was fizzing.

"What's this?"

"It'll help your hangover."

He drank it and the hangover practically went away. Stull could see that her drink had worked just by Allensworth's reaction.

"An old Trill recipe."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Well it was either this or the cold, wet cement of a San Francisco alleyway."

"You could've sent me home."

"A bloody thank you could work. Besides this was easier." Stull said.

"So much for respect." Allensworth said with a slight grin.

Ignoring that comment, Captain Stull got right into it. "For the past ten years, we've been at war with the Terran Empire. This war has cost millions of lives and we're losing. They've created their own territories within this universe. We've asked for help from the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians and even the Breen. We can't stand up to them, not for much longer anyway."

"I'm pretty aware of the situation." Allensworth said. "What's this got to do with me?"

"We're going to go to a planet that will hopefully help us. If it doesn't we're all dead anyway."

Allensworth still didn't have any idea what she meant.

"What planet would that be?"

"The planet that holds the Guardian of Forever."

Allensworth's eyes widened.

Shortly later, Stull and Allensworth stood inside of Jermaine's house. Jermaine had to pack a few things before taking off on this mission. Stull waited as her former captain made the final preparations before leaving. As she waited she saw a display case on the wall. The display case held seven comm. badges and each one had a name underneath of it, show the name of its previous owner. The names read from the top left comm. badge to the bottom right comm. badge. J. Sparhawk, C. Nycz, A. Merriell, D. Zofchak, H. Sato, A. Plumley, D. Fulks.

Michelle closed her eyes remember that fateful day. Jermaine appeared next to her and he too stared into the case of the comm. badges that belonged to his former shipmates.


	2. 10 Years Ago

10 Years Ago

Hoshi Sato and Dustin Zofchak sat in Ten Forward having dinner. It had been a week since their fiasco on the planet. Since then, the two had made it official of their relationship. They were enjoying Jumbo Vulcan mollusks that was sautéed in Rhombolian butter. Dustin had had a few times. Geordi LaForge had introduced it to him when he served aboard the Enterprise. This was Hoshi's first time.

"So I says to Commander Sparhawk, the clown can stay but the Ferengi in the Gorilla suit has to go."

Hoshi tried to contain her laughter but it was a futile attempt. She lost control and laughed.

"Two hundred years ago, no one would've gotten that joke." Hoshi said.

"I was told that joke by Commander LaForge. I don't think it will ever lose its punch."

Hoshi took a drink of her Jestral tea but stopped when she saw Zofchak's look on his face. His attention was towards the windows. She looked and saw a special anomaly.

"I think we may have trouble." Hoshi said.

Dustin nodded. At that moment, the intercom kicked on. It was Commander Sparhawk's voice.

"Senior officers, report to the bridge."

The two stood up. "So much for dinner." Hoshi said.

"We'll make up for it."

The two walked out of Ten Forward and headed for the Bridge.

Captain Allensworth stood right behind Ops and Navigation that were manned by Commander Merriell and Ensign Stull.

"What kind of readings are you picking up from that thing?" Allensworth asked.

"Its readings are exactly the same as the ones we encountered in the Talos Star System."

"Sir," Fulks said. "A ship is appearing."

A ship of Federation design appeared. It was a Luna class starship.

"Accessing registry. NCC-eight-oh-one-oh-two. ISS Titan."

The Titan shot out of the anomaly and towards the Alexandria.

"Red alert." Allensworth ordered.

"Sir, there's another ship coming in. It's the ISS Alexandria." Fulks said.

The mirror Alexandria swooped in overhead of its counterpart.

"Arm weapons and…"Allensworth was cut off by a transporter beam taking him away.

Sparhawk's eyes widened. "Fulks, shields up."

Naturally, the raising shields command was late and Captain Allensworth was in the hands of his counterparts.

Both the Titan and Alexandria warped away.

"Stull, follow them." Sparhawk ordered.

"Aye, sir."

The Alexandria jumped into warp, following them so they could save their captain.

Captain Allensworth stood in a cell aboard the mirror version of his own ship. The doors opened and Captain Allensworth walked through.

"Ah, it's so much better to meet you in person."

"Can't say that I agree. If you wanted to just meet and chat, you shouldn't have gone through the trouble of using the Titan as a diversion so that you could get me. You could've just beamed aboard my ship…"

"And our roles would've been reversed."

"To which I don't see a problem with that idea."

"You see, Captain, we're not really after you. We're after your senior staff."

Allensworth's eyes widened.

"Sparhawk to Captain Allensworth."

The mirror Allensworth tapped his comm. badge. "What is it?"

"We're approaching the coordinates, sir."

"Prepare for the next phase of our plan."

"Aye, sir."

"What do you have planned?"

"You'll see, Captain." His counterpart said with a mischievous grin.

The USS Alexandria followed the two mirror ships to the planet of Argelius. By this point all of the crew were wearing their hand phasers.

"Sir," Merriell said. "I'm picking up the Captain's signal on the planet below."

"Can you beam him out?"

"Negative, sir. They have transporter inhibitors activated all around the area."

"Merriell, I want you to lead an away team to the surface and retrieve the Captain. I want you to also destroy the inhibitors so we can beam you out as soon as you find him."

"Aye, sir."

He got up and was almost instantly replaced by Lietenant Perim. Merriell pointed to Fulks who followed him onto the turbolift.

Shortly later, Merriell and his away team stood on the transporter pad.

"The shields are down to allow transport." The transporter chief said.

"Energize."

Before the chief could activate the transporter, a transporter beam enveloped Fulks and Merriell. On the bridge, Sparhawk, Nycz, Sato and Zofchak were taken away. Even Doctor Plumley was taken from sickbay.

The seven officers rematerialized on the planet's surface. A large factory like building stood in front of them.

"What the hell?" Sparhawk said.

"They waited until our shields were down before beaming us here." Fulks said.

"For what reason. We were coming anyway but it appears that they only wanted the senior staff." Sparhawk said.

"They didn't disarm us during beaming either." Sato said

The front door was open.

"Looks like they want us to enter." Zofchak said.

"Well, if want to get the Captain back, we don't have any other choice." Sparhawk said. "Let's go. Be on extreme guard."

They all pulled their hand phasers and entered the building. Sparhawk and Fulks were the first to peer around the corners. The room was clear with the exception of two pillars in the middle of the room. There was another door on the opposite end of the room.

"Clear." Sparhawk said.

The seven entered the room taking a defensive stance. Jason looked around the room. He kicked the door open and it was also empty.

"Cle.."

A figure appeared in the hallway. It raised a weapon at them. Sparhawk fired his phaser, nailing the figure in the chest. The figure fell back and landed with a thud. Jason ran up to it and saw it was a mannequin.

"It's a damn doll."

The others ran up to him.

"Let's go." He ordered.

They continued down the narrow corridor that decided it wanted to split off into two hallways.

"Zofchak, Nycz, Plumley. Down that hallway. The rest of us will go down this one." Sparhawk said.

The group split up into smaller groups with the three man team going to the right and the four man going to the left.

Zofchak led the group down their corridor. There were rooms off to the left. Suddenly, someone ran into one of the rooms.

"HEY!" Zofchak called.

The trio ran down the hallway. Dustin slightly peered around the corner and once he knew there wasn't anyone getting ready to kill him, he turned the corner. He aimed into the dimly lit room. Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed him and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind them.

Dustin was thrown into the table that occupied the room, losing his phaser. Nycz and Plumley ran to the door and tried to kick it down. The door wouldn't budge. Inside, Dustin reached for his phaser but his arm, more specifically, his elbow joint was phasered by his opponent. It wasn't the standard stun setting but it wasn't set to kill either. It was just meant to hurt. Then his opponent walked over and jammed his agonize into Zofchak's chest. Dustin howled in pain.

Nycz and Plumley heard his cries and this made Plumley want to get to him even more.

"Stand back." She ordered as she took aim at the door.

A phaser blast ripped through the door but it wasn't Plumley's, it was their opponents. The phaser beam struck the doctor square in the chest and slammed her into the wall. Nycz knelt down to her friend's aide.

"Stay here." She said. The counselor backed up into the wall. As she hit the wall, she triggered a trap door above her and a noose came down and wrapped around her neck, tightened, and pulled her away. She lost her phaser as she was pulled away into another room and lifted into the air. She tried to pull at the rope to loosen it but it was to no avail. She just swung in a circular motion as she tried to get free.

Meanwhile Sparhawk's group carefully moved down their own corridor. They suddenly heard the screams of their comrades. They stopped in their tracks.

"We should go get them." Sato said.

"I agree." Merriell said.

Then a window along the wall opened and the silhouette of two people could be seen. The light above them kicked on to reveal more mannequins. The group slightly eased but then a window behind them opened. Another life sized mannequin stood on the other side of the wall. It was a mannequin of Counselor Troi. Or so they thought. Troi's eyes opened and she opened fire taking out Sato and Fulks. Merriell and Sparhawk dove out of the way.

The mirror Troi ran off and Sparhawk and Merriell jumped into pursuit. They followed her into a maze like room.

"Careful, Merriell."

"Aye, sir."

The slowly crept through the maze. Troi appeared behind Merriell and he noticed her movement. He turned around to see her running off. He took off after her.

"Merriell, stop."

Alex didn't listen and Jason was forced to follow. Before he continued he saw some movement but when he looked where he saw the movement, nothing was there.

"Merriell." He said.

No response. Merriell was being drug off by the mirror Tuvok. He exited the room and continued down the corridor. He came to another door and kicked it open. The door hit a lever and it triggered another door from the other side of the opening to slam into Sparhawk. The commander was thrown into the room behind him and as soon as he landed the floor below him gave way as if it was rigged to do so.

As Sparhawk's group was taken out one by one, Allensworth witnessed in horror the events that took place. He couldn't take it anymore. He kicked the screens out of the way, surprising the guard. He then jumped the guard, disarmed him and knocked him unconscious. He grabbed the phaser and took off to try and save his comrades.

He ran through the corridors and found no trace of his friends. He then turned down another corridor that had a bright light at the end of it. He ran to it to find himself in a bigger room. And in the middle of it were his comrades hanging from the rafters.

They weren't lynched but their hands and feet were tied and they were dangling from a rope that was tied around their waists. They were at least two stories high.

He stared in complete shock.

"What the hell?" He didn't know what to do. "GET OUT HERE YOU COWARDS!"

He then heard laughing. He looked up to see his counterpart on the upper level along with the command crew of the Titan. They all had phaser rifles trained on him.

"I'll leave things to you, Captain Riker."

"Allensworth to Alexandria, beam me up."

Seconds later the mirror Allensworth disappeared in the transporter beam. Allensworth looked around and could see the counterparts of Captain Riker, Counselor Troi, Commander Vale, Commander Tuvok and a few others of their crew. Riker stepped down from the upper level and stood face to face with Allensworth.

"Let them go." Allensworth said.

"Drop your phaser." Riker said.

"Let them go."

Riker held a hand in the air with a finger extended and then lowered the finger as if he was turning off a light switch. Counselor Troi walked over and pulled one on of the ropes, untying it from the beam it was tied to allowing Lieutenant Fulks to drop. He hit the ground before Allensworth even knew what had happened.

He ran over to him. Fulks was already dead. "David. David." He then looked up to Riker.

"I'm only going to say this once. Put down your phaser."

Allensworth did as he was told so that he hoped to save the rest of their lives.

Vale stepped down from her position. "I'll fight you. First one who hits the ground, loses. If you lose, you lose three of them."

Without warning she charged at him. She threw the first punch, which was blocked and he returned with a kick. She blocked it and kicked Allensworth in the back. He came around for a punch. Vale ducked and came up for an uppercut. Allensworth spun out of the way and followed through with a kick. He nailed Vale across the face and it looked like she was going to fall but she put her hands out and caught herself. Allensworth was a bit surprised. She then put all of her weight on her hands and kicked Allensworth with both feet, sending him to the ground. She had won.

Riker then did the same motion as before and Troi then untied three ropes that belonged to Nycz, Zofchak and Sato. All three hit the ground and were dead upon impact.

"Get on your knees." Riker said.

Allensworth slowly lowered himself to his knees. Riker laughed a bit.

"Let's go again." Vale said. "Same rules, only this time you have to beat me in twenty seconds. This'll be for the other thr…"

Allensworth didn't even let her finish her sentence. He attacked with full rage. He threw punch after punch that were either blocked or dodged. Vale then grabbed his arm and looked like she was about to break it. He then attempted to kick her but she ducked while still having a hold of his arm. His leg went over her head and she was put into an awkward position so she had to leg go of the arm. He spun around and punched her in the face and then kicked her in the chest. She landed on her back.

"Damn it." She said.

Riker nodded clearly impressed with Allensworth. "Nice, but I'm sorry, you went over by two seconds. Drop one for each second."

"You're not even wearing a watch." Allensworth protested.

"I know."

The ropes to Merriell and Plumley both dropped and they ended up like the others. Sparhawk was the only one left. Allensworth dove for his fallen phaser and aimed it at Riker and fired. By that point, Riker had moved as well and was out of harm's way. Vale had also ducked out of the way. He then aimed for the upper level and fired at the others.

They all just dodged the phaser beams and took off. Allensworth's aim was clearly off due to the circumstances. He looked up at Sparhawk.

"Hang on Jason. I'm coming."

"Captain."

Riker found his way up to the upper level and again and set his phaser to its lowest setting and fired at the rope, making it catch fire.

Allensworth noticed this and fired again. He hit only one of their members who clearly wasn't part of their command crew. Allensworth ran up and climbed up the wall to where he could grab onto the rope. He pulled his hands inside his sleeves and jumped onto the rope. As he slid down the rope, he was putting the fire out but due to the weight, the rope snapped. Like a pulley, Allensworth went up as Sparhawk went down. The commander didn't go all the way down. Allensworth's weight was keeping it somewhat balanced but due to the fire that was consuming the cuffs of his uniform, Allensworth could only take so much before he had to let go. Both officers fell to the ground. Allensworth immediately ran over to his first officer.

"Come on, Jason, wake up."

Jason wasn't dead but he was barely alive.

"Riker to Titan, beam us out."

As the mirror team was dematerializing, Riker pressed a button on his belt that activated several devices around the compound.

Allensworth heard beeping all around him. He looked around and saw several devices attached to the wall that had a timer and were beeping in unison.

"Damn it."

He tapped his comm. badge.

"Allensworth to Alexandria, get us out of here."

Allensworth and his shipmates dematerialized as the bombs began to explode. The rematerialized on the transporter pad seconds later.

"Medical emergency to transporter room two." Allensworth immediately called out.

He turned around to Sparhawk and froze. Sparhawk had succumbed to his wounds and died. His eyes were open and staring at nothing. Allensworth reached over and closed his friend's eyes before lowering his own head and began crying.


	3. The Guardian Of Forever

Stull had remembered when the report came of what had happened. That happened ten years ago to the day. She also remembered that she had feelings for Commander Merriell when she was first assigned to the Alexandria but nothing really came of it. It seemed that they were going to become something but the way things worked out just made them decide to keep their relationship strictly professional. They still retained their friendship and enjoyed working alongside one another but those days had come to an abrupt end. She had remembered how empty the bridge felt without the crew. Allensworth showed a strong front on the trip home. It was a quiet long trip. Not a single person spoke unless it was to report that they had returned to Earth.

Now, Stull was in command of that very ship. She sat in the center chair and stared at the view screen and the warp streaks.

"Coming up on the planet now, sir." The officer at Ops announced.

"Slow to impulse. Standard orbit, Mister McAllister."

"Aye, sir. Standard orbit."

Captain Stull pressed a button on the arm of her command chair. "Allensworth please report to transporter room three."

"On my way." Allensworth said.

Stull stood up and straightened her tunic. "Commander Perim, you will accompany me on this mission. Counselor Skundrich, you have the Bridge."

The Captain and first officer entered the turbolift and headed to the transporter room.

A short time later, Jermaine Allensworth, Captain Stull and Commander Perim materialized on the planet's surface. Stull had insisted that Allensworth put on a uniform and act the way he did when he was a captain. To his reluctance, Allensworth gave in to Michelle's insistence. The three command division officers stood in the ruins of the ancient civilization.

The ruins looked like ancient Greek ruins. Stone walls only stood waist high, white pillars lied along the ground either broken or cracked or even both. And then there it was. The Guardian of Forever.

It was probably the only thing left standing. Its donut shaped form would allow people to think it was just a decoration. Until they addressed it or asked a question.

"Guardian." Allensworth said. "Can you show me the events that happened exactly ten years ago starting with the ISS Titan just as it entered this universe?"

"THAT IS A QUESTION. I HAVE AWAITED A QUESTION" It said as the stone lit up as it spoke.

If this thing had said its usual saying "Before your sun grew hot in space and your race was born, I have awaited a question" Allensworth knew it would've been lying because Captain Kirk encountered it roughly a hundred years ago. Of course this thing lying would be about as possible as a Vulcan lying.

"Will you do it?" Stull asked.

"I WILL." The Guardian replied.

Smoke began to pour out from the edges of the hole of the Guardian and images from the past appeared. Images from Earth's distant past.

"Can't you change the speed in which you show these images?"

"I'VE BEEN MADE TO SHOW THE PAST IN THIS MANNER. I CANNOT CHANGE."

"Figures." Stull said.

"Now what?" Perim asked.

"We wait until it shows what we want." Allensworth said.

Just then, Commander Skundrich's voice came over Stull's communicator.

"Captain, sensors are picking three Terran vessels entering this sector. We can't stay here too long."

"Understood, Commander. Listen to me very carefully, take the ship and head back to Federation space."

"Sir?"

"If this plan succeeds then we won't have to return to the ship."

"But, sir, I must…"

"You have your orders, Commander."

Skundrich hesitated. "Aye, sir. Alexandria out."

Sitting in the center chair Commander Lauren Skundrich ran her hand through her hair in slight annoyance. She had no problem following her captain's orders but this mission seemed to be a bit foolhardy.

"Helm, lay in a course back to Federation space and engage at maximum warp."

The helmsman looked back at her in confusion.

"You heard correctly. Those were the Captain's orders."

The helmsman turned back around and plotted the course. "Course laid in, sir."

"Engage." Skundrich said as she sat down in the center seat.

The Alexandria turned on its axis and jumped into warp.

Allensworth studied the images closely in the hole of the Guardian. The images were closer to his time period now. They were showing the launch of the Enterprise-D and Captain Picard's dealings with Q. That was almost twenty years ago.

"Get ready, you two. It's almost time."

The others walked over ready to make the jump. Just then, a phaser blast came out of no where and struck the dirt between them.

"Oh bloody hell." Stull said.

They all ducked for cover and tried to ascertain where the phaser blast had come from. More phaser beams flew through the air. Perim, Stull and Allensworth all drew their phasers and returned fire.

"Judging by the amount of fire, I'd say there are about four or five troops over there." Perim said.

"A little cocky aren't they." Stull said. "Sending only five to take us out."

"Federation officers." A voice called out. "Surrender now or you will be eliminated."

"Always love the choices." Allensworth said.

"Now we know where they're positioned." Stull said.

Allensworth peered back to the Guardian and it showed the destruction of a Borg cube at Earth. Allensworth had to watch a bit more to figure out which cube it was that was destroyed. The one that blew up in Earth's orbit after Riker rescued Picard from the Borg or was it the ship that destroyed by the fleet of starships that was taken over by Picard after Admiral Hayes's ship was destroyed. Once Allensworth saw the Enterprise-E he knew it was the latter.

"We're going to have to make this quick. Our time is coming up."

"I know just the way." Captain Stull said.

She aimed her phaser at the rock face of the cliff and fired. The phaser beam struck different parts of the cliff and caused multiple boulders to fall. The Terran Empire officers ducked out of the way of the oncoming avalanche. Once they were out of the way, they were in the sights of their opponents. The three Federation officers opened fire and killed their opponents without mercy. There was no room for prisoners.

Allensworth turned back to see himself standing on the Alexandria bridge.

"It's almost time. Get ready to leap on my mark."

They stood ready to leap through the portal. The image changed to show Captain Riker standing on the bridge of the Titan.

"Is that it?"

Allensworth looked to the image of Troi and saw that her uniform was that of the Terran Empire.

"And now."

The three of them leapt into the portal of the Guardian of Forever.


	4. ISS Titan

The three appeared on the bridge of the ISS Titan as if they appeared out of thin air. Essentially, they did. Their sudden appearance shocked the bridge crew. The three of them drew their phasers and opened fire. Allensworth fired at Riker, who dodged behind a chair. Perim had vaporized Counselor Troi, while Stull had taken care of the Tuvok. Other crew members were taken down by the unexpected visitors.

Because of their sudden appearance, the group had the advantage and was able to take out most of the bridge crew. Riker, Vale and a few others all that remained.

"Fall back." Riker said as they ducked and dodged more phaser beams and ran through the doors that led to the conference room. The bridge was now clear.

Perim and Stull took positions at the helm and ops consoles.

"Lock phasers and fire at the mirror Alexandria." Allensworth said.

Perim did as she was told and the Luna class starship fired at its ally. The phaser beam struck multiple places of the underside of the saucer section.

"WHAT THE HELL IS RIKER DOING?" Mirror Allensworth yelled.

"Helm, get us out of here." Sparhawk said.

The ISS Alexandria warped away. A smile appeared on their faces.

"We did it." Stull said.

"Now what?" Perim asked.

"I'm not sure. We should've been sent back to our own time if we succeeded, but we're still here."

"Perhaps we need to eliminate the threat entirely." Perim said.

"That could be. Because the Alexandria just left and their plan could still happen but a bit differently." Stull said.

"First, we need to make sure that our Alexandria is out of danger and keep it that way. Hail them."

"What? We shouldn't do that because it will screw up the timeline." Stull said.

"Do you know how many temporal infractions that the other great captains have done? We'll just add to the list."

Stull knew he had a point. She pressed the buttons to hail the Alexandria. A moment later, the younger Allensworth appeared.

"Captain Allensworth, there isn't much time to explain. I need you to raise your shields."

Allensworth could see the confusion on all of his former comrade's faces when they realized who was on the screen. Stull did all she could to hold back her emotions. She saw Merriell give a look to her younger self. Seeing all of her old shipmates caused a flood of emotions to come at once. Although she was doing her best, she was having a very hard time keeping her emotions in check. Allensworth noticed her distress, and he really couldn't blame her. He stepped in front of her so that their younger counterparts didn't see her in that state.

Kell Perim was kinda the same way. She was grateful she was able to see her old colleagues again. She too was having a hard time keeping her emotions in check. She had grown quite fond of that particular crew. She had become closer with this crew than the crew of the Enterprise.

Not asking why at the moment, Allensworth turned back around and nodded to Fulks. Fulks executed the order and the shields were raised.

"Our mirror counterpart had a plan to take you and then kill your senior officers."

"With you telling us this information, doesn't that affect the timeline?" He asked.

"Not really. The fact that we're still here means that our mission isn't over yet. We need to take out the other Alexandria in order for us to succeed."

"Do you require assistance?"

"I would greatly appreciate it; however, I don't want you to get involved to where we end up right where we started. Proceed on your current assignment, that's an order."

He smiled as the last part left his mouth. His younger self nodded in acknowledgment. "We shall do as you ask." Allensworth said.

"It's good to see you all again." The older Allensworth said. Knowing that Stull had regained her composure, he stepped aside to allow her to see her old friends one last time before the view switched off.

"Good luck."

"Same to you, Captain."

Stull raised a hand to wave just a second before the view screen deactivated.

_Good bye. _Stull thought to herself as she lowered her hand.

"Set a course, and follow the Alexandria." Allensworth said.

Stull laid in the course. "Course set, sir." She said wiping the remaining tears from her face.

Allensworth smiled. It was almost like old times. "Hit it." He said.

The Titan leapt into warp.

"So, now what do we do?" Stull asked.

"We catch up with the Alexandria and we go from there." Allensworth said.

Suddenly, the door to the conference room slid open. Perim and Stull leapt to their feet just as a phaser beam sliced through the air and into the stomach of Kell Perim. She fell to the deck but wasn't dead. Stull returned fire at the assailant, which was Commander Christine Vale, the Titan's first officer. Stull's phaser beam missed Vale, who had ducked behind a console.

Stull and Allensworth grabbed Perim and dragged her to the turbolift that was behind them. They continued to fire as they entered the turbolift. Allensworth fired one more shot before the doors closed.

"Deck ten. Sickbay."

The computer acknowledged and the turbolift began moving. Stull knelt beside her first officer.

"Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up."

Perim shook her head. "No, not this time. The wound is too severe."

She coughed up some blood that landed on her chin and on her uniform.

"You can't. You can't leave me. I have no one else." Stull said pushing back more tears. She grasped Kell's face with her hands and the two touched foreheads.

"Be…strong, Michi." Kell said as she placed a hand on the side of Stull's face.

Michelle then place a kiss on Kell's lips and kept them there for a few seconds until Kell's hand dropped from Michelle's face and landed on the deck with a light thud. When Stull heard that sound, her eyes opened wide. Perim's eyes were still closed and they would never open again. Her lover was now dead.

Stull hated goodbyes and this was the second one within the past fifteen minutes. She pulled Kell Perim's body close and hugged her tightly. She wanted to scream but she couldn't find her voice to do so.


	5. Headed to Engineering

"They're in the turbolift." Vale said running to her console.

"Shut down the turbolifts and have a security team waiting for them." Riker ordered as he approached his command chair. He looked to the chair that once belonged to his beloved Deanna. He tightened his fist at the very recent memory of her demise. He planned on making the intruders pay for what they did to her.

Commander Vale pressed the appropriate buttons on her console to execute the order.

Inside the turbolift, Stull and Allensworth felt the turbolift suddenly stop. They stumbled at the abrupt stop.

"They're onto us." Allensworth said.

The security team reached the doors to the turbolift. Once in position, they aimed their phasers as the doors opened. The team was a bit shocked to see that the lift was empty minus Kell Perim's body.

A security officer's voice came over the intercom on the bridge. "The turbolift is empty, sir. It does look like one of them is dead."

"That's not good enough. I want their heads." Riker demanded as he slammed his hand down on the arm of his command chair. "Bring their heads to me or you'll be having a date with the airlock."

"Yes, sir."

Michelle and Jermaine stood on top of the car. Allensworth began to climb the ladder to the deck just above them. She was a bit hesitant on leaving Kell's body there but she knew that she'd want her to go and complete this mission.

"The car stopped at Deck Seven. We'll go to Deck Six and work our way to Engineering." Allensworth said.

The doors leading to the deck were sealed and couldn't just be pushed open unless the seal was compromised in someway. Naturally, it wasn't so they needed to manually release the doors. An access panel was positioned on the right of the door incase a person was in a situation where they couldn't get back to the deck. Jermaine opened the panel that revealed a handle. He pulled the handle and the door seal was released. Michelle reached over and with Allensworth's help, they were able to pull the door open and get on to the deck. Both armed, they crept around the deck to get to their next destination.

The Titan came out of warp next to the ISS Alexandria.

"Captain, we are being hailed." Vale said.

"On screen."

The image of the star field was replaced by the mirror Captain Allensworth.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Riker?" He demanded.

"A Federation force appeared out of no where on my bridge and took it over. That's when they fired at you."

"How many?"

"Three. We killed one of them."

"You mean to tell me that two Federation soldiers are giving you trouble? Are you that incompetent? The Emperor must've been drunk when he gave you your own command."

Riker didn't say anything. He wanted to beat Allensworth into submission for insolent comments.

_He thinks he could get away with those comments just because he's a captain. _Riker thought.

"Vale, fire quantum torpedoes."

Without hesitation, Commander Vale pressed the button on her console that released a barrage of quantum torpedoes.

The blue torpedoes slammed into the Alexandria's shields. Riker watched as Allensworth stumbled due to the impacts. The sight brought Captain Riker a bit of pleasure. Allensworth turned to his tactical officer.

"Bastard. James, lock phasers and return fire."

The mirror Olivia James did as she was told and the Sovereign class ship, fired on the Luna class ship. The phaser beams struck the ship in multiple places, including the warp nacelles.

Now it was Allenworth's turn to see Riker stumble.

On another deck, Stull and Allensworth stumbled around after taking down a few other mirror officers. They had to use the wall as support so they wouldn't fall over completely.

"What was that?" Stull asked.

"The Titan must be in some sort of battle." Allensworth replied.

Allensworth crossed his arms as he stared down Riker. "If you want to have a go, Riker, I'm all for it. I'll kick your ass all the way to Earth and back but right now you have a rodent problem that you need to get rid of. I suggest you handle that first. We'll wait right here till you're ready."

Riker was infuriated at Allensworth. "Get that bastard off my screen."

A moment later, the screen switched off. Riker did see that Allensworth smirked before the screen changed. Riker clinched his fist with complete anger. This was definitely not his day. First he loses his wife and now he was trading blows with Allensworth. He spun around on his heal and headed for the aft turbolift.

"Vale, come with me. We're going to take care of our intruder problem ourselves."

The first officer followed her captain off the bridge.

Stull and Allensworth continued down to the Engineering deck on Deck Twelve. They were currently on Deck Nine. This was a hard deck to get through. There were for some reason more personnel on this deck that was holding them up. The two of them held position at a corridor intersection avoiding phaser fire. Phaser beams either struck the side of the wall next to Michelle's head or they missed the wall entirely and hit the wall on the opposite side. Stull would occasionally poke out to fire back.

"This is bloody annoying." Stull said. "It seems like we're fighting the entire ship."

"We practically are."

Allensworth picked up a phaser that belonged to a mirror officer that lay dead in the corridor. He set the phaser to overload and then tossed it down the corridor into the group of people. The phaser acted like a grenade and exploded a few seconds later.

Allensworth poked his head out and saw that no one survived that explosion. He and Stull then continued down to the next deck. They were going to get to engineering even if they had to take out the entire ship to do so. It would be more troubling if it came to that.


	6. Warp Core Breach

After multiple run-ins with the ship's crew, Allensworth and Stull finally reached main engineering. Jermaine peered around the corner to see how many people they had to take down. Surprisingly, there wasn't that many. The two turned the corner and began firing. They took the engineers by surprise and took them down. After the short lived battle, the two ran over to the control panel near the warp core.

"This has been a bit easy." Stull said. "I expected more resistance and more people."

"A Luna class starship only has about three hundred and fifty crewmembers onboard." Jermaine replied. "Plus, engineering would be a bit easy to take over because they wouldn't want to damage the warp core while our goal is to take out the ship."

"You want to start a warp core breach?"

"Exactly." He said as he pressed a few controls on the panel. "Stand watch while I rig this thing. I need to reroute the encryption subprocessors manually and get to the warp plasma subprocessor to initiate a warp core breach."

Jermaine's fingers danced across the control panel as he went to work. Suddenly, a phaser beam struck the wall next to Stull. She flinched at the surprise attack but returned fire. She ducked behind a wall and fired as her partner worked. Allensworth was not in the line of sight of an attacker, which was lucky for them. It would have to take longer if he were to get up and help with the fight. It wasn't that Michelle couldn't handle. After a few moments of repeated screeching of phaser beams, the firing stopped. Jermaine looked up and saw Michelle still standing. It was a relief that she had won that skirmish.

She looked back at Allensworth. "How's the progress?"

"I've rerouted the encryption subprocessors. Just a few more sec…"

He was cut off by the sound of a phaser beam. The beam struck Michelle square in the back and a hole appeared in her torso. The hole expanded and consumed her entire body. She was vaporized. Allensworth grabbed his phaser and took cover. Their assailant was the Titan's first officer, Christine Vale. Vale appeared from around the corner, firing. Jermaine fired back when he saw an opening but his shots missed as well as Vale's.

Vale's sudden appearance meant one of two things. The first being that Riker sent her down here to take care of us or that they both had come down here and Riker was nearby. He couldn't handle Riker and Vale at the same time. He had to finish this quickly. And he knew just how to do it.

He stood up with his hands in the air. "Commander Vale, I give up. You got me."

Vale stood up with her phaser trained on him. "Drop your weapon." She said.

Allensworth let go of the weapon and let it fall. He saw Vale relax a little. Now was his chance. In a swift motion he snatched the phaser from the air, which was just below waist level, and pressed the firing stud. The phaser emitted its orange beam and struck Vale in the stomach and sent her into the wall. She was dead before she had even hit the ground.

"I've got to finish this quickly." Allensworth said to himself as he ran to the console.

He was able to press a few more commands in before he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. He dropped to his knees. He looked back to see Riker standing there.

"Damn it."

Aboard the ISS Alexandria, Commander Merriell swiveled around in his chair.

"Sir, I'm reading a build up in the Titan's warp core. It looks as if a warp core breach is about to take place."

Allensworth shook his head. "Idiot Riker. Open up a portal and take us back home. Riker is on his own."

An anomaly opened up and the Alexandria went through it, leaving the Titan by itself.

Riker ran over and punched Allensworth across the face, putting him on his back. Once Riker took a good look at Allensworth he knew who he was.

"Where did you come from? How did you appear on my bridge?"

"I'm from the future. I came back to stop you from killing my crew."

"You killed my Deanna." Riker said laying another punch into Allenworth's jaw.

"You killed my crew." Allensworth shot back.

Riker then fully realized the situation. "You came back so that you could change history."

Allensworth saw this as an opportunity to attack. He used his feet to trip Riker and was able to shoot to his feet and grab his phaser. Riker dropped his weapon when he hit the deck. He saw where it had landed. He reached for it but the weapon was destroyed by Allensworth's phaser beam. Riker was now at the mercy of the future Allensworth.

"You do realize that you'll be killed as well."

"I'm aware of that."

"What makes you think that the other timeline would be any better?"

"Because it has to be." Allensworth said as he pressed the button to initiate the warp core breach.

Suddenly, the Titan exploded leaving only debris.

Dustin Zofchak sat with Hoshi Sato, Alex Merriell, Michelle Stull and Christine Nycz in Ten Forward. They had just come off duty and the five of them were having a few drinks.

"I saw on your service record that you beat the Kobayashi Maru." Hoshi said.

Dustin slightly grinned.

"How did you manage that?" Christine asked.

Alex also smirked. He was the only other person on board to know how Dustin beat the simulation.

"Did you cheat like Kirk?" Michelle asked.

Dustin shook his head. "Nope, I used the Picard Maneuver."

"The what?" Hoshi asked.

"The Picard Maneuver. I had the ship accelerate to warp nine for a short distance, appearing right above the disabled vessel. I activated the tractor beam and then warped out of the system."

"I see. That's quite a feat." Sato said.

The group remained silent for a moment.

"I wonder why the Captain came back from the future to tell us to proceed on our current assignment." Christine said.

"Something must've happened to us in this time to cause him to come back." Dustin said.

"Well, if he did that then wouldn't that have changed our future and messed up our timeline?" Alex asked.

"Wouldn't it cause a predestination paradox?" Michelle asked.

They were silent once again.

"I hate temporal mechanics." They all said in unison.

The group laughed before continuing on with their conversation.

The End


End file.
